Traumatic Healing
by ClickTickTack
Summary: Claire went through something traumatic, almost a year ago. Upon get fired from her job, she turns to the classifieds for a new one, and finds an add for a farm in mineral town. She accepts, hoping to get away from it all. But no one will leave her alone
1. Chapter 1

Every day, Claire got up to go to work, ate out because she hated cooking for one, and came home and went to sleep. She had lost track of the days she used to be so religious about counting; the details she obsessed over slipped past her unnoticed.

She used to love life; she had OCD, but she had it under control. Everything was going good, until the incident that left her alone, barely able to function. She wasn't an alcoholic; she didn't do drugs. But there was an everlasting fog over her mind; she couldn't tell you what she did most days. She didn't remember if she had breakfast that morning. It was as if nothing had happened over the past eight months.

No one upset the delicate balance of her survival routine. Everyone around her knew what it was now, and left her to it no matter what she did, even if it could have harmed her or someone else.

That is, until then.

She'd gotten by at work doing a half-assed job, with a half-assed attitude, not talking to anyone. 'She's gone through a traumatic experience,' her boss defended her to her co-workers. 'Give her some time, she'll come around.'

But nearly a year later, it was the same story; and her superiors couldn't cut her anymore slack.

It didn't surprise anyone, not even Claire. She knew it was coming, but it set her a back, and not long after she got out of her bosses office, she was in the bathroom, having an anxiety attack. She made it through the day, but on the subway home the fear fully set in.

She could picture herself a year in the future, evicted from the apartment she could hardly make payments on now. Used up all the sympathy from friends and family, she'd be out on the streets in mere weeks. Benches would become beds, snowy leaves would be pillows.

She hadn't felt anything so strongly in months, and the fear hit her fragile being hard. It cut through her foggy mind, leaving her defenseless to her haunting thoughts.

She got off the subway, and ran down the crowded streets to her apartment building, up the stairs and towards her apartment. She grabbed the newspaper, went inside and locked the door tight.

"I'm home…" The young blonde whispered out of habit, walking into her apartment and tossing the newspaper on the coffee table. Of course there was no answer. She lived alone now.

Sighing, she flicked on the lights, and leaned against the door. She was safe now, in her quiet apartment.

But she soon realized that quiet wasn't good. Every bump and step she heard was an intruder, every small squeak someone breaking in. She quickly turned on her TV and radio, along with the rest of the lights in the small one bedroom apartment, and collapsed in the chair.

The lights and sounds made it better, but the paranoia was still there. The memories were still there. So long ago, she had never let anyone in; she'd kept people at a distance for a long time. But then she let her guard down, let someone else in. She had started to trust that everything was good, she had started to believe in happy endings.

But then it'd all been snatched away from her, leaving her in shambles.

She couldn't survive that. Not again.

Her walls had to go back up. Inside the fog she had started to heal. She could function without it now; all that was left was to build up the walls again, so she would never go through something like that, ever, ever again.

She picked up the newspaper, and turned to the classifieds. She needed a new job, and soon. She made mental notes of secretary wanted ads, and even menial tasks like dog walker caught her eye; she was soon-to-be desperate.

But then one popped out at her, and it seemed almost too good to be true.

"Would you like to enjoy a peaceful and refreshing farm life?" It asked, and listed a contact number.

She read it three more times. It wasn't like she wanted to move to a farm when she was young, on the contrary; she had grown up in a quiet neighborhood, and dreamed of moving to the big city. But she couldn't stay there any longer. She wasn't ready to face all the people the city offered. She couldn't face her friends. A quiet countryside town seemed a perfect place to start over.

"Farm…" She whispered aloud, thinking of how peaceful and therapeutic it could be.

She stood quickly, and rushed to the phone and dialed the number. "Hello, is this the MT realtor? I'm calling about the farm…" Claire spoke into the phone warily. "Uh-huh, it's still for sale?" A smile flickered across her face, the muscles sorely underused. "I'd like to put an offer down on it…"

Finally, the world seemed like it was looking up.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note**

I am so sorry it took me this long to update; I haven't had a computer for a couple of weeks/months, so I wasn't able to edit it, even though it was already written. I now have a new computer named Damian, so I'll hopefully be updating every few days or at longest, weekly.

Sorry for the wait and slow development, it will progress more soon.

%Disclaimer% Some/most of the Mayor's text is from the opening sequence of Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town, and I do not own ANYTHING, except most of this prose. But no one really cares about that.

Enjoy!

"This... This can't be right." She spoke to herself, furiously looking over her directions and maps. "I must have taken a wrong turn, I must've!"

Laying out in front of her was everything the realtor had promised; a field, a barn and chicken coop, and a farm house; on paper, that's all fine and dandy. But what Claire saw was nothing like what she had expected.

The field was more of a jungle then a place to grow crops; weeds, stones, stumps and twigs made it impossible to walk more then a few steps in without tripping.

And while all the buildings had four walls and a roof that didn't appear to be collapsing, they were less then the article had hyped them up to be. It had made them seem brand new, fancy, like when you'd dream of living in the county, big houses with enough room for parents and a bunch of kids. Not the one-bedroom 'functional' house that sat next to the farm gate.

The fence around the farm was also 'functional' but barely; there were gaping holes here and there, but it was good enough to keep chickens and other livestock in, but not humans out...

The blond girl sighed, taking another look at the horrendous farm.

"Hello," a man's voice spoke, and Claire spun around to face him, frightened as she didn't hear him coming. "Are you a tourist?"

She shook her head, shoulder-length blonde hair getting mussed up as she did so. She searched for words, but she was still taking in the mans appearance; short, a big red hat on his head, a big nose and bigger mustache to put it in perspective. He was quite hilarious, actually.

But before she could find the words, she realized the man was speaking. "-Told you that you can live a 'refreshing life' on a farm?"

She nodded.

"So you're the new farmer?"

She nodded again, wondering why he kept asking obvious questions. Was he really that dense?

The man started to laugh, his mustache bobbing up and down and his face turning a sickening shade of red. "You've been tricked!" He said and attempted to slow his deep, chortling laughter like a bad engine, ending it with a cough. "It used to be a gorgeous farm, but not anymore since the owner passed away. As you can see, no one's been taking care of it..." His face turned down, as he looked out at the run-down state of affairs, obviously remembering the better days when it was fully functional and thriving. "No one wants to work on the farm any more. So they decided to make the advertisement sound more attractive. Every now and then, people who have seen the ad come here. Just like your self. But as soon as they see the farm, they get disappointed and leave. Just like that. It's been a while since the last one came though... I see you believed the cheesy advertisement." He broke down in chuckles again, nearly doubling over with laughter at the hilarity he found in her misfortune.

Anger ignited in Claire, something she hadn't felt in a long time. It grew in her chest with every beat of laughter from the man, until it was drowned out by her own racing heart beat. Without thinking she pulled out the little plastic hammer her sister had given her as a going away present, held it high above her head with both hands, and brought it down hard on the mans head with a mighty blow.

"Ow, ow, ow... ouch. Okay, okay, sorry. Please stop hitting me!"

For a moment, she wanted to hit him again. Just keep hitting him, until he lay bleeding on the ground, and she would stand over him, feeling like she'd been able to do something, to someone.

But seeing him bleeding in her mind brought back the alley. Brought back the cold night, the hot tea in their hands, the burning on her face, the pain in her abdomen... his face.

It scared her, made her feel sick. Sicker then he was that night.

She forced her arms to lower, and dropped the hammer by her side, staring at her feet and trying to hide the tears and nausea threatening to overwhelm her.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"It's alright." The man assured her. "But it's not like you quit your job and sold your house to move all the way out here; why not just go back?"

She bit her lip, looking slowly from left to right, trying to think of an excuse, something to get her out of telling the truth. She wasn't ready to tell anyone yet.

"You did, didn't you?" He asked, apparently reading her body language.

Claire nodded, taking the escape, even if it meant seeming a little ditsy.

"...I see." He paused for an awkward second, both of them fishing for what to say. "Hey, why don't you just try to run the farm? The house is livable, and it's actually pretty nice... On the inside. If you work hard, I think you'll be happy here." He smiled brightly, somehow taking pride in stating the obvious. "As the mayor of this town, I will help you as much as I can."

She'd had a little voice telling her to stay, but she wrote it off as insanity before; thinking it over , she realized that it might be the most sane part of her brain. No, it wasn't pretty, but the barn could house animals, and the coop chickens; the house was surely better from the inside then the outside, and she was sure she could work in the field, make those original dreams a reality.

It wasn't like she had many other offers; moving in with her family would make her feel even worse off. Plus, idol hands are the devils workshop, right? It had become more and more true for her, over the month.

She sighed, and the mayors face turned down. "Let's do it." She said, her voice sounding like it would be more a burden then the blessing in disguise she found it to be.

The mayors face brightened up again. "You made the right decision." He nodded briefly, and waddled away.

She turned back to the farm, and gave it one last once over. The house was small, but it would work for now. It wasn't like she had a family living with her or anything, she was alone. But the rest of the farm was the opposite of the buildings, large and spacious despite the clutter of the field. The water in the stream and pond ran pure, the tree casting shade over the chicken coop.

Yeah. She could live there.

"Alright!" She yelled out, pumping her fist in the air, and scaring the pup who had fallen asleep at her feet. "I'm going to make this the best farm in the world!" Lost pride began to fill her, a feeling like she was ready to take on the world, starting with the farm.

She opened her mouth to let out a victory cry, but no sound came out; instead she took a deep breath and yawned. She'd gotten up fairly early, making the final preparations to get there. It was only just sunset, but she was tired.

"Starting tomorrow." She stated, with another, smaller, yawn. "C'mon, Demming. Let's get inside." She picked up the little puppy, carried him into her new little farm house, - it really did look better from the inside, - and laid down on the bed with her clothes on.

_I'll do it too. _She thought, already beginning to drift off. _I'll make you proud, Andrew..._


End file.
